Technabob » mech

Guy Builds Deadly Mech out of Girly LEGO Friends Parts

Shane McGlaun — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:19:20 +0000

The hardcore LEGO geeks over at The Brothers Brick have said that the new LEGO Friends play sets aimed at girls kill the imagination, but I don’t agree. My daughter is seven and her name is Emma. One of the little LEGO Friends characters is named Emma as well. That means we’re now in possession of just about every one of these little pink, girly LEGO sets made. However, on more than a few occasions Emma has told me that these sets are “lame” because they don’t have any guns like the LEGOs her brother has.

She will be beside herself when she sees what builder Mark Stafford has come up with using these little pink blocks and LEGO Friends characters.

Peter’s creation has little lipstick fingers, a gun, and it’s in the requisite pink that any seven-year-old girl requires. I suspect I will spend the night rebuilding this thing each time the monster Ken Barbie tramples it to pieces.

It reminds me more than a little of the recon Mechs from my favorite videogame growing up called MechWarrior. Check out the photos in the gallery and see for yourself.

[Flickr via The Brothers Brick]

Giant Gundam in Pieces, World Comes to an End

Technabob — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 21:44:47 +0000

Japan’s Giant Gundam sculpture was one of my favorite man-made since I started writing this here site. So when I stumbled onto these images and video footage of the recently-dismantled Gundam statue, I wept. Okay, so I had just been cutting onions, but it still made me sad.

Photographer darwinfish105 shot these images of the chopped-up Gundam, currently on display in Japan. The crime scene tape around the perimeter of his dismemberment is a nice touch.

Here’s an up-close shot of his stomach and chest.

I’m hoping that Gundam’s disassembly is only temporary, and that he’s en route to other locations around the world for all to enjoy. But I have a bad feeling that Gundam is down for the count, and this may be your last chance to get a gander at the massive mech.

A tragedy of such grand proportion deserves not one, but two tribute videos, so sit back and pay your final respects to the big lug now:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Farewell, Giant Gundam. We hardly knew you.

[via darwinfish105]

Your Very Own Mini Giant Gundam

Technabob — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 16:16:52 +0000

If you’re lucky enough to live in Japan, you’ve had plenty of opportunity to check out the giant Gundam statue that’s been around for the last year or so. But for those of us here in the States and other places around the world, we’ve got no giant Gundam love. Well, thanks to the guys at Bandai, you can buy your very own oversize Gundam for your living room.

Sure, this model is only a 1/12th size replica, but that still means that it stands almost 5 feet (1.5m) tall and weighs 77 pounds (35kg) when assembled . The HY2M Hyper Hybrid Model mech was produced for the 30th anniversary of the franchise, and offers fully poseable arms, legs, head and even its fingers are jointed. It also comes with multiple guns and a lightsaber blade you can put in his hand to really intimidate your guests.

As you can see from the pile of parts in the gallery above, the “some assembly required” on the manual is a bit of an understatement. I’d expect that putting this thing together would take more time than a set of dressers from IKEA.

But if you’ve got the patience, and you’re willing to do a little Japanese-to-English translation, you can order one of these limited-edition replicas from the Bandai shop for ¥315,000 (appx. $3800 USD). Extravagant, yes. But a small price to pay to have Gundam keeping watch over your home, no?

[via Early Adopter]

Gundam Robot Phone: Only in Japan?

Range — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 16:27:32 +0000

If you don’t have an iPhone or an Android phone yet, why not get a Gundam Robot Phone instead?

This phone will be released by Japan’s third biggest mobile phone carrier, SoftBank Mobile, who has 25 million subscribers. The phone itself is based on a Sharp 945SH, which has 3.2-inch VGA display, 12.1MP CCD camera, video recording in 720p, digital TV tuner, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and is waterproof. That’s actually not bad for a basic cell phone. Do I want one, though? Nope, I’ll stick to my old SonyEricsson Cybershot K810i.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

At this point, you’ll have to live in Japan if you want one. There are no current plans for this phone to be released in the US or Europe.

[via CrunchGear]

10-Foot Gundam Made From Leftover Model Part Trees

Technabob — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 13:08:52 +0000

Ever wonder what to do with those stupid grids of plastic left over when you assemble a model? How about build a Gundam?

That’s exactly what these guys did with their leftover bits and pieces. It took over 250 man-hours to build the RG (Recycle Grade) RX-78-2 Gundam, which measures in at nearly 10-feet tall. Of course, it was built almost entirely from the spare plastic runners and part trees from smaller Gundam model kits.

If for any reason you happen to be inTokyo this weekend, you can check it out in person the Chara Hobby show at the Dengeki Hobby booth.

[via Tomopop]

Warhammer 40000 Dreadnought Casemod: Mind Blown

Technabob — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:02:42 +0000

Holy crikey! This is one bad-ass casemod job.

Created by modder pinchillo, this mech-style computer casemod is inspired by the Dreadnoughts from Warhammer 40,000. But even if you’ve never played the game, you have to appreciate the sheer spectacle of pinchillo’s amazing case-building skills.

Lots of dreamy Dreadnought pics in the gallery below:

And check out the video to see the Dreadnought’s spinny turret and LED lights in action. Yes, it actually moves.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[BoLSLounge via Modding.ru and Bit-Tech.net]

Element Commune: Legohaulic’S Walking LEGO Mech

Range — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:59:09 +0000

Tyler Clites, who’s also known as Legohaulic, put together this amazing LEGO build. He calls it Element Commune. When you first see it, it looks like a great design, but then when you see the thing walking around, it’s takes it to a whole ‘nother level.

If you check out the video, you can see the walker walking about. It’s an amazing feat. Tyler admits that his goal is to create a fully steerable walking biped, which would be really insane!

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The bipedal mech has a great look, and Tyler clearly put a lot of effort into this mechanical marvel. You can check out more photos of his build over at his Flickr site. He was inspired by this decidedly less slick YouTube video:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via Brother's Brick]

Overturn: Everybody was Robot Fighting [Wii]

Alisha K. — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:12:06 +0000

Looking to throw down with some giant stompy robots in a realistic, immersive way? Upset that virtual reality tech hasn’t swept in to take care of this for you? While you may not be able to climb into your personalized mech and brawl your heart out, thanks to a forthcoming WiiWare title, you will at least be able to do a little robot fighting.

You may be thinking of games like Steel Battalion right now, and while that game was certainly one answer for all your robot combat needs, the game was pricey and the peripheral more so. Is there a cheaper solution? With Overturn, maybe so. Studio Zan’s WiiWare (that means cheap!) game features a “regular” control scheme using the Wii remote and nunchuk… and also a mode that supports the Wii Balance Board so you can get your feet into the game. So the combination is still expensive, but not as much as we’ve seen for similar items in the past.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Overturn hasn’t been officially announced for North America, but as the title turned up on the ESRB website recently, it seems a lock for the region. It’s already out in Japan.

[via Siliconera]

Gundam Head Makes for One Strange Looking Speaker

Technabob — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 21:29:20 +0000

If you’re looking for a set of speakers for your media player, and want something that’s a little different, have I got something for you.

Inspired by Japan’s popular Gundam Anime series, these decapitated mech heads sure to draw attention wherever you set them up. Just open up the flaps on the back of the head to reveal a pair of hidden stereo speakers.

These Gundam Head Speakers simply plug into any portable media player and run on batteries to give you robot-head sound on the go.